A Lacanian Interpretation of Artificial Intelligence Hallucination

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the remarkable generative capabilities of AI systems are accompanied by the persistent phenomenon of "AI hallucination," which troubles both users and researchers. This phenomenon manifests as the generation of information detached from reality, undermining the credibility of AI and posing challenges to its application in substantive professional work. Interestingly, AI hallucination exhibits a structural homology with the concept of hallucination as proposed by Jacques Lacan within psychoanalytic theory. Interpreting AI hallucination through a Lacanian psychoanalytic lens can broaden the scope of research on this issue and foster interdisciplinary studies. This paper aims to introduce Lacan’s psychoanalytic framework to provide a novel perspective on understanding AI hallucination.